Your app can do two things with images: share them out to other apps (the easy part) and receive them in from other apps (the interesting part). This guide covers both.
Heads up: receiving shared content uses the experimental share extension API from expo-sharing. It works, but Apple could change how share extensions launch the main app target in a future iOS release. Keep that in mind before shipping to production.
What you need
npx expo install expo-sharing
That's it for the dependency. But receiving images requires a config plugin, a native rebuild, and a few pieces wired together. Let's walk through each one.
Sharing images out
This is the straightforward side. You already have Share from React Native:
import { Share } from "react-native";async function shareImage(fileUri: string) { await Share.share({ url: fileUri });}
Call it with a local file URI and the OS share sheet pops up. Works on both platforms, no config plugin needed.
Tip: If you're sharing a generated or cached image, make sure the file actually exists on disk before calling Share.share. Passing a stale or deleted URI will silently fail on iOS and crash on some Android versions.
Receiving images from other apps
This is where it gets interesting. When a user is in Photos (or any app) and taps "Share > Your App", a few things happen under the hood:
Platano template demo: receiving multiple images at once
The OS launches a share extension (a separate target in your Xcode project)
The extension hands off the data to your main app
Your app wakes up with a deep link
You intercept that deep link, route to the right screen, and process the images
Let's set each piece up.
Configure the plugin
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